Rivelino
Roberto Rivellino (also Rivelino, Brazilian Portuguese: ʁiveˈlĩnu; Italian: rivelˈlino; born 1 January 1946 in São Paulo) is a former Brazilian professional footballer. He was one of the stars of Brazil's 1970 FIFA World Cup winning team. Rivellino currently works as a pundit for Brazilian TV Cultura.2 The son of Italian immigrants from Macchiagodena (Isernia), he was famous for his large moustache, bending free kicks, long range shooting, accurate long passing, vision, close ball control and dribbling skills.3 He also perfected a football move called the "flip flap", famously copied by Romário, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years.4 He is widely regarded as one of the most graceful football players ever, and among the best midfielders of his generation. With the close control, feints and ability with his left foot, Diego Maradona named Rivellino among his greatest inspirations growing up.5 In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.6 Contents 1 International career 2 Club career 3 Honours 3.1 Country 3.2 Club 4 Individual Honours 5 References 6 External links International career Rivellino was a key member of Brazil's 1970 FIFA World Cup winning team, which is often cited as the greatest-ever World Cup team.78910 Wearing the number 11 jersey, Rivellino was deployed on the left side of midfield and scored 3 goals, including the powerful bending free-kick against Czechoslovakia, which earned him the nickname "Patada Atómica" (Atomic Kick) by Mexican fans. Rivellino also played in the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cups, finishing in fourth and third place respectively.1112 Club career Rivellino started as a futebol de salao player at Clube Atletico Barcelona. After that, he tried his luck with Barcelona's biggest rival, Corinthians, where he moved on to professional football and quickly became a favourite of the fans—and was therefore nicknamed "O Rei do Parque" (King of the Park) (after the club's home ground, Parque São Jorge). However, the late 60s and early 70s were one of the most troubled periods in the history of the club, which did not win a single São Paulo state league title between 1954 and 1977. Rivellino (left) playing in Saudi Arabia in 1979 In 1974, after Corinthians was defeated by arch-rivals Palmeiras in the São Paulo league finals, as the star player Rivellino was singled out by most fans as one of the most responsible for not winning. He moved on to Rio de Janeiro, where he defended Fluminense until the end of the 1970s. Rivellino was undoubtedly the greatest star in the excellent Fluminense of the mid 70s, dubbed "the tricolor machine", among Doval, Pintinho, Gil and Carlos Alberto Torres. He won the Rio de Janeiro league championship in 1975 and 1976. By the end of the decade, he moved on to play for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia; he retired from professional football in 1981. "He (Sérgio Echigo) says now that he invented it, but I perfected it" —Rivellino on the "flip flap".5 After his professional retirement, Rivellino started a career as a football commentator and coach (he has managed Shimizu S-Pulse in Japan's J. League). Rivellino further represented Brazil in the 1989 edition of the World Cup of Masters, scoring in the final against Uruguay. Rivellino is sometimes credited with scoring the fastest goal in football history when he supposedly scored a goal direct from the kick-off after noticing the opposition goalkeeper on his knees finishing off pre-match prayers.13 Regarding the 2014 World Cup held in his country, Rivellino criticized the inclusion of the Amazonian city of Manaus with its stadium Arena da Amazônia in the hosting venues, saying "it’s absurd to play in Manaus. You start sweating the moment you leave the locker room".14 Honours Country Brazil15FIFA World Cup: 1970 Club Corinthians15Torneio Rio – São Paulo: 1966 Fluminense15Campeonato Carioca: 1975, 1976 Individual Honours FIFA World Cup All-Star Team player: 1970 Bola de Prata Brazilian Championship All-Star Team: 1971 CONMEBOL All-Star Team: 197316 Bronze ball South American Footballer of the Year: 1973,17 197618 Silver ball South American Footballer of the Year: 197719 FIFA 100 Greatest Living Footballers: 2004 Premio Golden Foot Award (Football Legend Award): 200520 The Best of The Best – Player of the Century: Top 5021 World Soccer: 38th Greatest Player of the 20th Century IFFHS Brazilian Player of the 20th Century (12th place)22 Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame References Wikimedia Commons has media related to Roberto Rivelino. 1.Jump up ^ "Roberto Rivellino – Goals in International Matches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 2.Jump up ^ Rivellino assina com a TV Cultura at TV Cultura 3.Jump up ^ Roberto Rivelino from Planetworldcup.com 4.Jump up ^ David Goldblatt (2009). "The Football Book". p. 129. D Kindersley Ltd, 5.^ Jump up to: a b "Football's Greatest - Rivelino". Pitch International LLP. 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2014 6.Jump up ^ "Pele's list of the greatest". BBC Sport. 4 March 2004. Retrieved 15 June 2013. 7.Jump up ^ "The Story of the 1970 World Cup". BBC. 12 May 2010. 8.Jump up ^ "Brazil's 1970 winning team voted best of all time". Reuters. 9 July 2007. 9.Jump up ^ "The Boys from Brazil: On the trail of football's dream team". The Independent. 10 April 2010. 10.Jump up ^ "The 10 Greatest Football teams of all time". Daily Mail. 1 May 2009. 11.Jump up ^ "Dutch take plaudits but Germany take the prize". FIFA. Retrieved 27 December 2014 12.Jump up ^ "Kempes key as Argentina are crowned with confetti". FIFA. Retrieved 27 December 2014 13.Jump up ^ Football Legends: The Midfielders at soccerlens.com 14.Jump up ^ Rivelino: 'Manaus an absurd venue'. Football Italia. 14 June 2014 15.^ Jump up to: a b c "Rivelino: A very special left foot". FIFA.com. Retrieved 19 October 2015. 16.Jump up ^ CONMEBOL All-Star Team Retrieved on 17 November 2015 17.Jump up ^ "South American Player of the Year 1973" Retrieved on 17 November 2015 18.Jump up ^ "South American Player of the Year 1976" Retrieved on 17 November 2015 19.Jump up ^ "South American Player of the Year 1977" Retrieved on 17 November 2015 20.Jump up ^ "Golden Foot Award Monaco 2005". Golden Foot. Retrieved 2 November 2015. 21.Jump up ^ "The Best of The Best" Retrieved on 17 November 2015 22.Jump up ^ IFFHS' Century Elections External links Brazilian Football Museum Hall of Fame Rivellino Sport Center Rivellino from the Confederaçao Brasileira de Futebol IMNO Interviews Rivelino Corinthians All Time Best XI Placar Magazine Archived March 28, 2012 at the Wayback Machine Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:FIFA 100 Category:Brazilian footballers Category:Brazilian football managers Category:Brazilian people of Italian descent Category:Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Category:Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Category:Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Category:Fluminense Football Club players Category:Al-Hilal FC players Category:Sportspeople from São Paulo (city) Category:1970 FIFA World Cup players Category:1974 FIFA World Cup players Category:1978 FIFA World Cup players Category:FIFA World Cup-winning players Category:Expatriate football managers in Japan Category:Shimizu S-Pulse managers Category:Brazil international footballers Category:Brazilian expatriate footballers Category:Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia